The regular season has come to an end, fantasy football is over, and now we get to sit back and watch the best teams in the NFL fight for a spot in the Super Bowl. Everything goes out the window in the playoffs; your record doesn’t mean anything. If you don’t believe me, just ask the Patriots. This is the time of year where legends are made and names get remembered, Drew Brees, Payton Manning, little brother Eli Manning, Tom Brady, heck you can even throw in Trent Dilfer… the only reason why we know his name is because he won a Super Bowl. This weekend the Wild Card games will be played and I’m here to give you my picks, I’m for sure no expert so I suggest you don’t put any money on these picks…
Saturday afternoon at 4:30 pm. Eastern Time on NBC
Cincinnati Bengals VS Huston Texans
This matchup in my opinion is extremely one sided and unless something big happens I think the Texans will run away with this game. It’s a less than stellar quarterback matchup between Andy Dalton from the Bengals and Matt Schaub of the Texans, Dalton is a decent talent but he is very, very young and I just don’t see him being able to go into Huston and come away with a big win and with the team that is assembled in Cincinnati he will have to win it himself. Matt Schaub has not totally lived up to expectations that were surrounding him but nonetheless he is a pretty good quarterback, the great thing about the Texans situation is that he don’t have to be a great quarterback because they have a man named Arian Foster in the backfield who can make any team look good. Then on top of that you give a team Andre Johnson and playmakers on defense like J.J. Watt and it seems to me like it will be a relatively easy week for the Texans. Texans win 27-10.
Saturday night at 8:00 pm. Eastern Time on NBC
Minnesota Vikings VS Green Bay Packers
This is the second best game of the week in my opinion and after watching last week’s matchup between these two teams it makes me want to see it even more. Just this last week the Vikings beat the Packers 37-34 to make the playoffs and set up a rematch with the divisional rival. Adrian Peterson was playing like a man possessed last week rushing for 199 yards that left him just 9 yards short of the single season record for rushing yards. This just one year to the day after having knee surgery that should have put him out for over a year, needless to say he is a freak. Everyone I’ve seen is saying that there is no way that the Vikings are beating the Packers two weeks in a row and that there is no way that Adrian Peterson is going to have back to back 200ish yard games, apparently they haven’t seen the Vikings play lately. I’m going with the Vikings for one reason and one reason only… AP! I have doubted him before and he makes me put my foot in my mouth, so I am done doubting him. Adrian Peterson is going to singlehandedly win this game for the Vikings and rush for some BIG yards. I’m giving it to the Vikings 24-21.
Sunday afternoon at 1:00 pm. Eastern Time on CBS
Indianapolis Colts VS Baltimore Ravens
Not a bad way to start off a Sunday afternoon in my opinion, this is going to be a great matchup to watch and I’m pumped for this one. Great storylines coming into this game for both sides, rookie QB Andrew Luck leads the Colts to the playoffs just one season after having the number one pick in the NFL draft with a coach that has been battling for his life dealing with Leukemia. Then you have the Ravens trying to win it all in Ray Lewis’s last season in the NFL. I think that this will be a close game and very well could come down to the last possession of the game. The Ravens have a seasoned defense that has been here before but they are getting up there in age, and the Colts are very young and inexperienced but have a sound coaching staff that will get them ready for this game. I think that the difference in this game could be Ray Rice, the Ravens need to feed him the ball all game long and let him do his thing, and not let Flacco mess things up. If they can get him the ball 20-25 times I think they can win this game. The Colts are a very good team but I think that the running back play favors the Ravens extremely and it could be the deciding factor. The Ravens will make it to the next round and buy themselves one more Ray Lewis pregame speech. Ravens win 21-14.
Last game Sunday afternoon at 4:30 pm. Eastern Time on FOX
Seattle Seahawks VS Washington Redskins
This is the matchup of the week in my opinion and obviously in the NFL’s mind too since it’s the late game on Sunday. This is going to be the Russell Wilson and RGIII show, and I’m sure that it will not disappoint. These two rookie QB’s have taken over the NFL and have a strong following to say the least, these two have played so well this year and have put their teams in the playoffs when no one thought they would. I think the deciding factor in this game will be how the Seattle defense plays against the stud from Baylor, Robert Griffin III. The Seahawks have arguably one of the best defenses in the league but let’s face it; this isn’t a normal offense they will be facing. If they can contain the spread option attack that the Redskins throw at them they have a chance to win. Now we can’t forget about the big man in the backfield for Seattle, they call him skittles and he is the definition of a BEAST. His name is Marshawn Lynch and he will no doubt have an impact on the outcome of this game. To my knowledge he is the only player in the world to literally cause an earthquake… so that says a lot in itself. Ultimately though I think that the Redskins will take it to the defense of the Seahawks and win this game in a shootout, the Skins win 37-31.
Well those are my picks for this weekend of football in the NFL; let me know what you guys think by leaving me a comment on here or even on twitter @EricCarlizle810. Please like and subscribe if you like my blog, I would appreciate it a lot. Thanks for reading everyone. God Bless.
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